The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 109

“…Judas?”

When she called his name, Judas suddenly snapped out of it.

A strange feeling instantly disappeared.

He took a quick step back.

It was because an unpleasant odor was emanating from his body.

“…Yes, miss.”

“Are you okay? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“No. I’m fine.”

For a moment, Eliza couldn’t understand why Judas seemed so unfamiliar.

Anyway, it wasn’t something to worry about right now.

Judas reported on what had happened.

“The monsters also appeared in the northeast, but fortunately, our personal guard was there, so we suppressed them.”

“Really? That’s good to hear…”

Clink, clink.

The heavy sound of metal boots hitting the ground.

The sound of armor clashing.

A group wearing golden armor approached them.

The sun emblem was engraved on their shoulders.

It was slightly different from the Bevel family’s crest.

The sun engraved on the golden breastplate seemed to protrude, with rays of light extending sharply.

Unlike the soft, glowing sun of the Bevel family.

It was the imperial emblem.

And the golden armor symbolized the royal knights.

“Very quick response,” Eliza said, lightly mocking them.

The royal knights simply stood at attention and saluted.

“Thank you for your assistance, Lady Eliza.”

“It’s nothing. I didn’t do it to be thanked.”

While they conversed, Judas sent the armor back.

It was a bit dirty, but there was nothing he could do.

There was no way to clean it here.

Once the armor was off, his body felt much lighter.

The unpleasant smell was gone as well.

“If it’s not too much trouble, may I ask what you two are doing around here?”

“Are you suspecting us?”

“It’s not suspicion, it’s a legitimate investigation…”

“Hmm?”

Eliza didn’t respond, her smile subtle.

The royal knight’s claim was true.

They had the right and duty to inquire about what had happened.

But Eliza felt a strange sense of unease.

A feeling of impatience.

She had intentionally reacted sharply, trying to gauge their reactions, but they were overly flustered.

What were they trying to hide?

“Well, fine. It’s not like I can’t talk about it.”

Eliza reluctantly opened her mouth, as if conceding.

Meanwhile, Judas took a step back and observed the royal knights.

More specifically, the giant among them.

‘Wow, look at the size of him. Is he even human?’

He was at least over 2 meters tall.

He looked like he was 2 meters and 50 cm, at a rough estimate.

It wasn’t just his height.

His broad frame was like a massive gate.

‘Was there ever such a large human? There are no giants here… If someone’s that big, they should be famous, but why haven’t I heard of him?’

Perhaps exhausted from rushing over, the giant shifted his body with a heavy movement.

The sound of strained breathing was audible.

‘He’s practically a monster…’

At that moment.

The giant’s eyes met Judas’s.

No.

Ever since Judas had removed his helmet, the giant had been focusing on him.

It was only now that their eyes finally met.

‘…What is this?’

A sudden sense of unease surged within him.

There was no time to think.

“Grrrrr…! Gaaaahhh—!”

The giant began to scream in agony.

He clutched his head and thrashed about.

“Ughh—!”

“Hey, hey! Calm down!”

The royal knights rushed over to stop him.

It was useless.

When the giant swung its arm, it flew through the air like paper.

“Khugh…!”

The giant stopped struggling and glared straight at Judas.

A chill ran down Judas’s spine.

“Miss! Dodge…!”

Just as he was about to shout for her to dodge, his mouth snapped shut.

“Cough…!”

A heavy pain pierced through his abdomen, crushing his body.

The giant had charged at him in an instant and rammed into him.

He didn’t even have time to comprehend it.

He was sent flying and slammed into the wall of Judeca.

“Krruuuaaaahk-!”

The giant grasped its head as if in pain.

“Judas-!”

Eliza screamed and used teleportation to rush to him.

“Ah, how… How is this… Judas…?”

His body slumped against the wall, his back pressed against it.

“No, no….”

Eliza’s trembling hand reached out to him.

Judas weakly raised his hand and clasped hers.

“It’s fine… It hurts like hell… but….”

Eliza swallowed and glared at the giant.

Her eyes widened.

Her irises were stained with a mad fire.

The magic was already prepared.

She just hadn’t decided how to kill it yet.

Should she burn it in its armor?

Or melt it inside the armor?

Or, perhaps, destroy the entire city…

“Miss.”

Judas pulled Eliza into his arms.

She collapsed against his chest.

“I’m fine.”

“I…”

“Calm down. The opponent is a royal knight.”

“……”

“I don’t know why he’s doing this, but it would be problematic if you killed him.”

Eliza knew.

No.

Eliza understood better than Judas.

It couldn’t be helped.

And yet, Eliza struggled to control her emotions.

It wasn’t because of the mad fire.

The feelings she was experiencing right now.

The anger and the murderous intent.

Were purely her own.

But….

Eliza looked up at Judas, who held her.

After all that, he smiled as if everything was fine.

He didn’t even smile much, but when he did, it felt like cheating.

“…Okay. I understand.”

Eliza leaned her face against his chest and healed the wounds on his body.

Even though it wasn’t the fury of the mad fire, his embrace soothed her heart.

Why was this happening?

It was strange.

Too, too strange.

But, she didn’t mind.

So, she decided to remain a little strange.

“Hold him down!”

Several royal knights rushed in to subdue the giant.

The giant’s helmet was torn off, hanging loosely.

Judas had struck it with his elbow the moment he was rammed into.

But the giant didn’t just take the blow.

It had been thrashing around wildly, causing its helmet to fall off.

Its face was now exposed.

‘…Huh?’

Judas, still holding Eliza, looked at the giant’s bare face.

Eliza, still in his arms, gazed at the giant as well.

The whites of its eyes were fully exposed.

Its eyelids weren’t wide open; its eyelids had been sliced off.

The whites of its eyes were stained red.

Red rashes had formed on its skin.

Its bald head was also covered with scars and rashes.

From his tightly closed lips, saliva dripped uncontrollably.

With the face of a rabid beast, he glared at Judas.

The large, muscular face was familiar.

He had changed a lot, but the feeling from his childhood remained.

It was a small thing, but…

‘…Vinyl?’

He was a candidate who came from the same Judeca as Judas.

Judas didn’t know, but Vinyl had wanted to become like him.

Now, he appeared before Judas, bizarrely stronger than before.

In a way that Judas hadn’t wanted at all.

***

It was difficult for the knights to control the rampaging giant.

In the end, they had to rely on the royal mages.

When Geist, the head of the mages, arrived, he hurriedly took the giant away.

In the urgent situation, even though Eliza was watching, there was nothing that could be done.

From what he saw, Eliza was certain.

The royal side had intentionally delayed the response.

Afterwards, Judas and Eliza gave brief testimonies to the royal knights.

Neither side wanted to delve too deep into the situation.

The royal family’s reputation had been seriously damaged.

The incident of the demon’s escape from Judeca.

It had been the emperor’s own plot, but it had yielded unexpected results.

Originally, it was meant to stir public sentiment, but Judas and Eliza suppressed it early on.

Before the royal knights had even been deployed.

In fact, Eliza’s Escort knight had blocked the northeastern gate.

As a result, it became an incident that only increased Eliza’s honor.

By the time the investigation was over, it was evening.

Eliza congratulated the Knights who had been part of the investigation and told them to rest freely before dismissing them.

Only Judas and she remained.

“Miss. Was that… Vinyl?”

“Yeah. I think so. He was expelled from the training center back then.”

It was the incident where Vinyl had tried to stab Judas during training.

Afterwards, Eliza had given orders to her subordinates.

To punish him moderately and then expel him.

At that time, they didn’t know the royal family was an enemy.

“I can’t believe the royal family took that away. My guess is that they enhanced his body with dark magic. Maybe he was used as some kind of test subject.”

Eliza sensed traces of magic on Vinyl.

It was a kind of magic that forcibly enhanced the body.

Such magic could only be dark magic.

“So the royal family…?”

“I don’t know the exact details, but they probably tried to strengthen their forces with dark magic. Perhaps even the release of the demon was part of their own scheme. They must be busy cleaning up.”

In other words, they had gathered the materials and were now in a position to strike.

The real objective wasn’t the empire.

It was the Bevel family.

The empire, the Bevel family, and the Moon God Church.

She was going to bring all their intersections together and explode them.

“Are you alright from where you were hit earlier?”

“I’m fine. It healed quickly.”

“…I see.”

Eliza clearly remembered the moment when her reason had snapped.

It was horrifyingly vivid.

At that time, she had intended to kill her opponent.

But she hadn’t gone through with it.

Judas had stopped her.

It was a contradictory matter.

Her possession.

Her things.

Her knight.

Her own.

A clear servant.

Judas.

He couldn’t give orders to her, his master.

She had no reason to follow his words.

If he wanted something, he could have it.

But Eliza had obediently followed Judas’s words.

She had accepted the reversed master-servant relationship.

She couldn’t refuse.

It shouldn’t have happened.

It was truly strange.

She couldn’t push away this strangeness.

The two walked side by side down the night street.

The night of the Founding Day was lively and dazzling.

Colorful lights sparkled everywhere.

The streets were packed with people.

The accident that occurred during the day became a rather entertaining topic for discussion.

In reality, there were no civilian casualties at all.

It was something to be happy about.

To commemorate the founding ceremony, it was said that the gods had watched over them.

Everyone was drunk on alcohol and excitement.

On the way back, Eliza asked Judas,

“Do you still want to see more of the festival?”

They had come out to watch the festival today.

Though Judas had led them into the accident, that wasn’t the original purpose.

Judas asked in return,

“And you?”

Rather than her own desires, Eliza, her master, was more important to her.

“I…?”

Eliza hesitated.

It was something trivial.

Normally, she would have suggested it without thinking.

But for some reason, her throat itched.

After hesitating, she looked up at Judas and smiled.

“…Yeah. I want to see more.”

A pure, innocent smile.

She still exuded the childlike innocence.

Judas noticed a subtle difference in her face.

A slight shyness.

It must have been due to the colorful lights of the festival.

“Then I… too…”

“No.”

Eliza said firmly.

“You can’t answer like that.”

“…Huh?”

“I want to hear your honest thoughts, not just follow mine.”

“…”

“What about you? Do you want to watch the festival with me?”

Judas hesitated for a long time.

It was a simple question.

She had been asked like this before.

She had often found herself swept into her heart by these kinds of questions and then out again.

But now…

It felt strangely different.

It must be her fault.

Judas answered lightly.

“Yes. I want to see it too.”

“Then let’s go. To see the festival.”

Eliza smiled in reply.

A certain part of her heart tingled.

She also felt a precarious sense of danger, like this shouldn’t be happening.

A complicated feeling.

It was truly something hard to describe—strange, tingling, warm yet hot.

Judas and Eliza decided to bury that oddity for the time being.

For now, they simply thought it was enough that they were together.

“…”

They had decided this, but neither knew where to start.

It was a ridiculous sight, both of them standing still after agreeing to look around.

Just as Judas was about to speak, a crowd of people rushed by.

“Careful.”

Judas hurriedly pulled Eliza’s hand, holding her tightly.

To keep her from being swept away.

The crowd was so large that it was easy to get carried along.

Although they had the necklace, so they wouldn’t get lost.

“Are you alright?”

“…Yeah.”

Eliza answered with her head lowered.

Judas realized his rudeness and tried to let go of her hand.

“Sorry…”

“Don’t let go.”

Eliza quickly grabbed his hand, pulling it back.

She corrected her hold.

Their fingers interlocked, clasped tightly together.

Just like she had said, not to let go.

As if they would never be separated again, she bound him tightly.

Eliza, still avoiding his gaze, spoke.

“…Don’t let go. Not now, or in the future.”

Judas swallowed the question that rose to his throat.

Then, he simply smiled.

“I understand, miss.”

The distance between them was so close that their shoulders brushed against each other.

The two men and women began to watch the festival, their hands intertwined.